As far back as 1791, the U.S. has carried a debt. The lowest it has ever been was 1835 when the entire national debt was $33,733.05. (2) From 1950 to 2000, the debt increased over 5 trillion dollars. (3)

1950 - $0,257,357,352,351.04
1960 - $0,290,216,815,241.68
1970 - $0,389,158,403,690.26
1980 - $0,930,210,000,000.00
1990 - $3,233,313,451,777.25
2000 - $5,674,178,209,886.86

And in the last 6 years, "[F]ederal spending has increased by 33 percent since 2001, from $1,863 billion to $2,472 billion." (4)

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The Debt Today